Wave Race: Blue Storm Review
Yes, the GameCube has landed, and I managed to snag Waverace: Blue Storm! How does this game compare as a launch title?
Waverace is a great game, but it features very little that hasn’t been or done before. Not to say that it’s a bad game, but it feels like you’ve experienced it before, although it’s on a completely new system.
The graphics are nice. This is what the GameCube was meant to push, and it shows. The main screen has incredible water effects, and the screen gets splashed with neat water effects and ripples during the game. When you’re playing, there are incredible water effects; I mean incredible. Whether you’re on cool and calm Aspen Lake, or shredding at Ocean City, the water is certainly something that hasn’t been surpassed in any video game! The whole game has a nice graphical interface that makes it pleasing to look at and seems to add an air of sophistication to it.
Gameplay. The gameplay is great, but as I said earlier, people who have played Wave Race 64 will instantly feel right at home. The controller melts right into your hands, and the buttons are easy to find. You use the A button most of the time to accelerate, the B button to crouch, the Z button to turbo, and so on. The only minor gripe I have is that the Z button is so close to the R button that I often missed the turbo button when I needed it the most. There are a ton more moves, including heel clicks and can-cans, as well as the old favorites barrel-roll and backflip.
The learning curve is strange. I breezed through Dolphin Park, but then the next one took me by complete surprise with the high waves and wind. The next level, Aspen Lake, was a breeze. And Ocean City is hell. I found that if you wipe out once, you’re in last. Then again, maybe I suck.
The sound is great, anywhere in the game. You can choose your own tunes to play, and you never seem to get tired of the songs. The replay value is pretty much self judgment, but I find that it’s much like playing a good adventure game: you beat it and it doesn’t seem the same afterwards. The Stunt Modes are fun, and you can always find new shortcuts that you may have missed. Why not impress your friends?
Overall, Waverace is an alright launch game, but it leaves you longing for more. The graphics are a nice upgrade, but it’s basically the only thing that separates this game from Waverace 64.
Visuals: 8.5
Sound: 9
Originality: 5
Replay: 7
Overall: 7